Dragonborn
by Ioannis
Summary: Yuuri is dumped into the deep wilderness of Shin Makoku as a child. With no way to return to his family, he is raised in the wild with spirits who teach him about his maryoku. A scuffle with poachers leaves a certain half-blood bloodied on the doorstep of the Dragon Woods. Yuuri saves Conrad's life… but how is a "wild king" supposed to survive among the nobility of Shin Makoku?
1. Prologue

**Hey Everybody! So, here's a new fic for you. Have fun reading it - I certainly had fun typing it. See you again at the end of the chapter!**

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**Prologue**

Yuuri Shibuya was six years old when his life changed forever.

The day wasn't different from any other – Miko Shibuya was bathing her playful son in their home of Japan after a particularly messy dinner. Her Yuu-chan could be quite picky when it came to food, and while he could be quite resistant when she tried to feed him, she knew he would warm up to her curry eventually.

"Mama, look, I'm a duck!" Yuuri laughed as he scooped his familiar rubber toy out of the bath water and imitated quacking sounds.

Miko chuckled at her son's silliness as her fingers combed through his hair, dislodging clumps of curry and other food that had gotten stuck after the wild feeding frenzy. Yuuri would often scream and resort to tantrums when it came to facing a food he didn't like. Miko knew she would have to start scolding him soon, but some part deep inside of her insisted on letting him stay a child for as long as he could. For she knew that within mere years, her son would leave her side to fulfill a great destiny.

"You sure eat like an animal!" Miko chided softly, causing Yuuri's cheeks to flush lightly. "Shori eats my delicious curry. And he does it without getting all of it stuck in his hair!" She rubbed in her fingers a bit harder to emphasize.

Yuuri pouted a bit at this, his duck lips unfolding into a frown.

"But I think curry is yucky, Mama." He replied, his childish face screwing in distaste as he remembered the flavor of the food that was currently dripping from his pitch black hair.

Miko feigned being shocked, her hand rising to cover her mouth as her eyes went as wide as dish plates, before throwing an arm over her forehead and swooning onto the bathroom floor.

"How could you, Yuu-chan…! My curry…!" Her voice echoed off the tiled bathroom walls.

Yuuri giggled and splashed a bit of water at his mother, before diving under the surface to scrub the grime off himself. She was so dramatic and silly, he couldn't help but love her.

Suddenly there was a tug at his ankle, and Yuuri found himself pulled to the bottom of the tub. He hiccupped in suprise, but found the force holding him wouldn't let him rise to the surface of the relatively shallow pool of water.

Instinct kicked in as soon as panic did, and he found himself scrambling to pull his head above the bath water. The splashing of his flailing limbs seemed to form into a vortex around him, and suddenly he felt like he was in a much deeper abyss. The force kept pulling him down and down.

Yuuri let out a shrill scream as the cold hit him, but even then the force holding him did not let go. He choked out a sob for his mother, but the only sound he made was by the bubbles as they left his mouth and drifted to the surface high above, pale like ghosts.

The vortex around him stilled, and his vision went black.

"Yuuri?" Miko started, having not been on the floor but for a few seconds when she heard violent splashing. She rose to her knees and lunged for the tub, arm reaching in to help drag her son out of the water.

But she found nobody there, and her throat suddenly tightened with shock.

"Yuuri? Yuuri!" She crawled into the water, desperately looking for her child, even though it was not a large tub and there was only one place where he could have possibly gone.

_But no, it was too soon!_

"Miko?" Shoma Shibuya poked his head into the bathroom, his voice laced with concern. His face filled with alarm, however, when he saw his wife distraught and soaked, sitting in the still-filled tub where he was sure his younger son had been previously.

"Call Bob!" Miko shouted at her husband. "Our son has—My Yuu-chan-!"

* * *

Yuuri had learned to swim at a young age. His parents had insisted on it, and so Yuuri swam. It came as no real surprise to anyone when they discovered that Yuuri was quite the adept swimmer. His parents had been proud of him, and maybe he had allowed himself to feel a little proud of himself too.

But Yuuri wasn't thinking of any of this when his face broke the surface of the muddy water. He coughed and choked, his tired limbs paddling him to the closest shore as his body heaved in the air that had been denied to him for so long.

He crawled on all fours out of the spring, his face, body and hair freshly smeared with mud. His tired body collapsed into the tall grass, and he rolled onto his back to better gasp in the glorious air. It took him several minutes to recover, to open his eyes and finally take in his surroundings.

His first thought was that he had never seen a sky so blue.

His second was that it had been nighttime in Japan. Which was quickly followed by his third thought, why was he in a forest?

"Mama?" He called out hoarsely, suddenly frightened of the strange environment that seemed to surround him.

Dark tree limbs twisted above him, masking all but a patch of that brilliant blue sky. Shadows seemed to dance across his skin as the forest canopy blocked any rays of light from cascading to the forest floor below. Roaring filled his ears, and he realized he was at the foot of a towering waterfall. Grass taller than him sprawled in all direction save for the pool of rippling water from which he had emerged moments ago.

Heart beating wildly, Yuuri dragged himself to his feet and tried to take everything in. For the most part, everything around him was silent. That only seemed to heighten the sense of danger for the young boy, and he scanned the foliage wildly for wicked things that weren't really there.

He sniffled and his lip trembled – he was so scared!

Suddenly a different kind of roar filled the air. Yuuri turned around quickly, only to find a creature of his nightmares had come alive.

His mother had read him fairytales. He knew what dragons were, and all the evils they were guilty of doing. But he had never imagined them to be this giant, or menacing. His shriek was drowned out as the dragon released another lazy roar.

The beast hadn't spotted him – it languidly glided over the tree-tops, it's long and heavy tail dragged through the uppermost leaves. It was a deep blue color, it's massive and semi-transparent wings created a maelstrom of wind that blew through the thick forest and knocked Yuuri cleanly off his feet. It flew directly over the young boy – he was cast in its cold shadow for several long moments as it adjusted its course of flight and ascended to land on top of the waterfall.

Yuuri whimpered and scrambled in the opposite direction of where the beast had just disappeared. He had to get away, he wanted to go home!

He ran for minutes, what seemed like hours. He was oblivious to the real dangers of the woods, which seemed to repel away from him as if he had an invisible shield around him. He reached no break in the trees, no relief from the nightmare that he couldn't seem to wake up from.

Eventually he broke down sobbing, and collapsed into a hollow at the bottom of a tree when he could no longer move. His body ached and his limbs were chaffed from the mud and leaves that had harshly whipped him when he ran past.

He was lost. He realized it suddenly, the weight of his new reality crashed down on him with brutal force. He was lost, and he didn't know how to get home. His chest heaved for several long minutes as the exertion of his panic took its toll. But then he went silent as exhaustion washed over him. Warm tears spilled down his face as he suffered homesickness through every fiber of his being.

As he lay motionless, he began to hear the whispers.

They built up gradually, softly at first. They were the opposite of frightening. They were quiet and comforting, soothing, even. They spoke unintelligibly, but they were familiar, and that's all that mattered.

A soft caress brushed over his face, and he was too tired to react despite the warmth of the touch.

He opened his eyes and saw dancing lights surrounding him, a variety of colors. They were like smoke. He could occasionally make out a human-like figure emerge from a wisp of color, but it would dissolve as soon as it formed, only to slowly build up to a recognizable form again.

They continued to whisper to him, to pet his face, smooth over his hair, run smoky tendrils over his aching cuts and ease the pain.

"Who are you?" Yuuri whispered, though he was doubtful these creatures spoke Japanese.

_We help. _

The soft whisper of a reply seemed to form directly in his mind. It was less words and more of a feeling, but its meaning was all the same to him. These things wouldn't harm him.

"Are you fairies?" he whispered back as relief from his wounds washed over him. He wondered if he had been lost in a fairytale land after all.

_Spirits. We help. We keep safe._

"Why?" Yuuri breathed out the word, making almost no sound at all. He was too tired, and a weight behind his eyelids seemed to drag him deeper into exhaustion.

_We keep safe. You here now, all will be well. We keep safe, we keep safe. _

Yuuri was lost to the world. He fell asleep.

* * *

Among other things, Yuuri was surprised to wake up fully dressed.

The clothes he wore –if they could even be called clothes – were nothing similar to the clothes he had worn back in Japan. The cloth seemed tattered and worn, barely held together, grafted together with plants from the surrounding forest. It was closer to a tunic than anything. However, it was comfortable when he moved, and he silently thanked whoever had assisted him.

A small whisper seemed to acknowledge him, but he barely noticed it.

He found some berries and scraps of meat piled near him that were arranged too intentionally to be there by coincidence. He ate them slowly, to savor them (another pleased whisper), and then surveyed the forest around him.

Today, he was less afraid. He wasn't sure where he was, but he clearly remembered his mother's teachings about what to do if he got lost. The memories of his family gave him strength.

Firstly, he was supposed to stay where he was until someone found him.

With a shiver, he recalled the dragon that he saw the day before. He wasn't going to wait around for it to show up again, no matter what people would do in normal circumstances. He supposed he could always try walking and finding people. People were good. But then again, what his mom had said about strangers…

Everything was too hard!

He grumbled and got to his feet, brushing the dirt of the forest floor off of him. He did a complete turn to look around him, but the trees all looked the same. He didn't even remember which direction he came from – the forest had healed itself after he had rampaged through it the night before.

The feeling of hopelessness came over him. Where was he supposed to go? This had never happened to him before.

A soft touch brushed past him.

_Come. Follow. We help._

"Is it you guys again?" Yuuri said to himself simply, trying to find the dancing colors he had seen the night before.

They were there. They were harder to see in the light, but he could make out the misty forms of the spirits as they swam through the air around him. The air became distorted where they floated, which strained his eyes a little as he tried to follow them.

They led him around for a long time. Light couldn't penetrate the thick trees too easily, but there was enough sky visible to determine the direction of the sun. He had to stop quite a number of times to rest, and they brought him more food when his stomach growled. He grew tired, the exhaustion of the previous day catching up with him. It was growing dark again when he heard rumbling.

Yuuri stopped dead in his tracks, as did the spirits. He looked at the colorful wisps hesitantly for any signs of alarm from them, but they continued to dance around him, cooing with encouragement.

_She will help. She will watch you. She will keep you safe. Follow, follow._

Their tiny voices seemed delighted and proud, but Yuuri was still doubtful.

"If you say so." He muttered, and stepped out of the thick clump of forest into a clearing.

It was very hard for him not to scream. He had originally thought the giant mound in the middle of the clearing had been a particularly large rock, or a pile of dirt. It was only when it breathed that he realized he was horribly, terribly wrong.

The dragon before him dozed; the dark copper of its scales gave off a light sheen in the twilight. Its snout was long, its wings spread out messily around it. The forest surrounding them was disturbed and broken, as if the giant beast had rampaged before settling down. It wasn't as big as the one he had seen earlier, not by half. There was a certain roundness to some of its features that gave Yuuri the distinct impression that it was a lot younger than the one he had seen yesterday. As the initial shock wore off, he found himself fascinated.

When Yuuri looked closer, he saw that it's eyelids twitched, its body was stiff as it released labored breaths. It released a groan much like a miserable cat's as its legs spasmed under it.

It was then that Yuuri saw the blood. The dragon's copper body was littered with cuts and bent scales, dark blood oozing from its wounds.

_She's hurt! _Yuuri realized.

Against his better judgment, and despite being afraid, he crawled to one of its massive wings to get a better look.

Something sharp pierced his palm. He winced and lifted his hand off the ground immediately. Examining his hand, he pulled something brittle and sharp out of the throbbing flesh. The material was something familiar to him, surprisingly.

Eggshells?

He looked around him, and he saw the ground was littered with the broken shells. They seemed freshly broken, too. The slime of the yolks and other egg goo shone under the light of the moon, appearing on the grass and the belly scales of the seemingly unconscious dragon.

Yuuri's heart was suddenly filled with sadness. He held the piece of egg close to his heart and looked at the mother dragon, who had seemingly lost a fight and lost her children as consequence. While she was big to him, she was probably very much young and hadn't stood a chance.

_You help._

The spirits urged him forward, their voices louder than usual. He found himself in front of the dragon's head, his mouth aghast.

"I can't help!" He whispered furiously at the sprites. "I'm just a kid! That's a freaking _dragon!_" He felt the ridiculousness of the situation called for a curse or two.

_Use power. You have within you. Great power. Use. Help._

Yuuri's eye twitched. He didn't know what to make of it.

The spirits, who had been swimming around him, suddenly swarmed around his hands. He lifted them in wonder and they prodded at the skin of his palms. Something stirred within him, something strange that he didn't like. He bit his lip in surprise as his hands began to glow faintly, and then his whole body.

_Heal her._

Yuuri didn't even think, but he listened to them.

He brought his hands down to the dragon's face, his palms right between her eyes.

He shook when the dragon started awake, its eyes finding his instantly. But to his great surprise, it didn't move. It's whole body became still like stone, tense and uncertain. He watched her in wonder as her eyes became filled with grief and uncertainty.

She feared him. _She feared _him.

_She senses the power in you._ The spirits whispered. _You have great power._

"I'm not going to hurt you." He promised, doing his best to convey his good intentions through his…magic? He wasn't sure what he was doing right now, but he knew it could only be magic, or some other kind of sorcery.

He was already tired, but he poured everything he had into his hands, into her. It was too dark, he didn't even know if it was working. But all too soon he was out of energy, and he collapsed against her. He found himself in the grass, facing – once again – the all too beautiful sky.

The clearing was silent. Then, the giant beast released a great breath and got to its feet. The whole world seemed to shake when she moved, but the spirits reassured Yuuri that he would be safe.

No one had ever told him that dragons could be sad. He had always thought they were great, evil beasts whose only wish was to kill and destroy. But this copper dragon looked at the sky mournfully, her eyes full of what could only be described as grief.

She released a low caterwaul to the stars, and Yuuri slipped into the blackness once again.

* * *

When Yuuri awoke this time, he was warm. His body was heavy and felt empty, but he was far from uncomfortable.

He lifted his head, only to find himself completely surrounded by the slumbering body of the copper dragon. His heartbeat picked up a bit, and he looked around for the familiar figures of the spirits, only to find that they were gone.

Now he was nervous.

He carefully got up, limbs heavy, and wobbled away from the dragon. He wasn't sure what to do, and he certainly didn't know how he'd done what he'd done last night. Was he a wizard? A sorcerer?

Excitement suddenly sang through him as he wondered if he'd been sucked into some fun adventure. Did he have to save somebody to escape this world? Defeat a powerful enemy?

The excitement quickly died when he remembered his homesickness. He wanted his mother, his father. Even his annoying older brother who always got on his nerves. His lip was starting to tremble again when an animal-ish groan came from behind him.

Yuuri spun around, only to find the copper dragon awaking. He saw her much more clearly than he had last night. While her wounds were not completely healed, they were closed and no longer bleeding. The dragon seemed more spirited, her copper scales shining beautifully in the morning sun.

She turned and found Yuuri with her piercing silver eyes. He was frozen in place as she advanced upon him slowly.

Soon they were face-to-face. Yuuri's heart was hammering as she seemed to survey him. Her hot breath blew the black hair away from his face; he squeezed his eyes shut.

He felt her gently nuzzling his arm, to his surprise. He opened his eyes to watch her. She seemed to want his hand, so he obliged and opened his palm to her.

Burning.

The next thing Yuuri knew, he was crumpled on the ground, cradling his hand as white-hot pain shot up his arm. He cried out as the burnt flesh throbbed, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. The dragon cooed and nosed him, as if wanting to see his hand once more.

"No!" Yuuri choked out and tried to roll away.

The dragon snorted in annoyance and fixed him to the ground with a massive foot. She eyed him with an impatient gaze, compelling him to listen.

Hesitantly, Yuuri slowly uncoiled his wounded hand from under him and showed it to her once more.

The coppery dragon breathed on it, her breath suddenly ice cold. Yuuri sighed in relief, oblivious to the fact that his burn had completely healed until he pulled a tingling hand back to his face and saw an angry red scar.

He looked back at the copper dragon, and was momentarily taken aback by what he saw.

It was as if he could see the life energy swirling around her. Tiny streams of light laced through the air, through the ground, collecting together like tiny streams. He could see them inside the dragon too, a dense net of lights like the ones his family would hang for Christmas. They were harder to see, but they were there. They pulsed and tangled together with the tiniest of movements. He looked around himself in awe. But he blinked again, and they were gone.

Black eyes found silver, and he laughed in wonder. What had she done to him! That was amazing!

The dragon grunted, nodded, and stepped back from Yuuri. The black-headed boy scrambled to his feet and looked around more. If he concentrated, he could still see the tiny lights. They were everywhere!

Suddenly the copper dragon spread its wings, the force of wind causing Yuuri to lose his balance. The copper dragon dipped its head to him, bounded a few steps, and then it was in the air.

It glided over the clearing once, twice, and then it was gone.

* * *

Yuuri found himself alone for most of the time after that. He would see the copper dragon every now and then – she would fly over him, and she would look down at him momentarily, as if to see that he was safe. He would see other dragons too, but they often times ignored him (even though he was sure that they knew he was there).

Days passed. Weeks.

The spirits visited him often and talked to him. They taught him things- taught him magic. He learned about the woods and the creatures in it, because he could not find his way out of them. Sometimes he marveled that he had managed to survive those first few days, there seemed to be so many dangers in it.

Weeks became months.

Yuuri never really spoke anymore. He hunted, and killed. He hated killing, but he had to live. He found himself becoming part of the energy that filled the forest, and he no longer had the will to leave the forest. He thought of his family every now and then, but they were unimportant when it came to his survival.

Months turned into years, though he never kept track of the time anymore.

He practiced his Japanese – that was the one thing he didn't want to forget. It kept him human. Everything else seemed lost, though. He felt like an animal, he hunted like one, too. His family was a distant memory that no longer pained him. Still, he found a certain humanity within him that surprised him sometimes.

He had magic. He used it every now and then, to heal and defend. Dragons were kings in this valley, but they respected him and kept their distance. He was haunted by the memory of the destroyed eggs of the dragon who had protected him (for he was certain that she had been watching him all these years), and he found himself enforcing justice around the forest. He broke up fights between the giant creatures more than once with his ever-growing powers. The dragon population began to thrive once more eggs had the opportunity to hatch.

It was around then that he saw humans for the first time in years. But they weren't there for good. They tried to harm the creatures he protected. They had the nerve to try to kill the valley's young.

He made weapons and even makeshift armor. He drove them away, and boy were they surprised to see him. They didn't have magic like him, making the task that much easier. But they shouted at him, frightened, and ran away upon the sight of the youth with black hair and eyes.

No more humans came for a long time, and Yuuri wasn't sure how he felt about that.

More years passed, and the valley was at peace.

Yuuri Shibuya was eighteen years old when his life changed, once again.

**End of Prologue**

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**Whew, that was a long chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it - feel free to drop a review if you want. **

**I based this story on a dream I had a while ago, though I'm pretty sure that dream drew off of Princess Mononoke in some way. And maybe a little Tarzan. Anyways, I just wanted to write story about Yuuri being crazy and growling at people all the time, maybe even biting a few deserving bishounens. *wink wink* I promise you get to see Conrad and (hopefully) a lot of other characters next chapter. Sorry if you thought this chapter was a little bizarre - I wanted to establish how Yuuri got there and how he became the way he is. **

**See you guys next chapter!**


	2. The Soul of the Wood

**Here I am, with another chapter! Don't expect a chapter every day, I just typed another one because I'm kind of excited about this story. The next one should be up soon. But not tomorrow. Definitely not tomorrow. For now, enjoy this one! *wink***

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**Dragon Wood, Heart of the Drache Valley, Shin Makoku **

The sounds of battle drifted softly through the trees. Among the various yells and clangs of swords was the shriek of a furious creature that the half-blood listening knew all too well.

Conrad Weller, second son to the current Moah, Cecilie von Spitzweg, looked over his shoulder at his patrol of soldiers who were laying low in the tall grass of the forest. There were a dozen or so of them; they looked back at him with steady gazes steeled with determination.

They were half-bloods, like him.

For all that his mother doted on him, not even she could qualm the prejudice that much of the nobility in Shin Makoku had against the children of humans and mazoku. For several years he and his kind had fought to prove their worth on any and all battlefields they could volunteer for – and the country was in turmoil, so finding such an opportunity was not hard.

It was the pinnacle Battle of Luttenburg that had changed everything. Conrad had very nearly lost his life, and sometimes he wished he had; for not long after his unrequited love was extinguished when Julia von Wincott perished.

Everything had gotten so much worse after that, when Julia could no longer support equality for half-bloods. He had completed his secret mission on Earth, and then vowed to think of Julia no more.

After that, half-bloods became naught but outcasts, left with only the dirtiest and most dangerous of duties around the kingdom. He remembered his disgust, remembered volunteering for the patrol that circled the farthest borders of the kingdom, despite his best friend Yosak's pleas. He didn't have to return home this way. The only interaction with those citizens who were not "his kind" was restricted down to a bare minimum, only when his squad needed supplies.

And so here they were, responding to a report of poachers in the Dragon Wood.

As usual, it seemed the hunters had bit off more than they could chew. There had been a sharp rise in the dragon population recently, calling amateurs from all over the world who thought they could kill and capture a prize or two.

More often than not, Conrad's patrol had to only watch as attackers were ripped limb from limb by the very beasts they had come to kill.

But every now and then, such as this occurrence for instance, a group of people who actually knew what they were doing would show up. Conrad's patrol was, among other things, supposed to protect the drachen. It was an endangered species after all.

Conrad Weller beckoned his patrol forward, and inch by inch they crept forward through the brush (they opted to leave their horses behind since they were so easily spooked by dragons) until they came face-to-face with a fierce battle.

These appeared to be mercenaries, for all Conrad could tell. They wore heavy armor and carried advanced weapons. It didn't appear as if they had attacked the dragon originally, they carried the wrong equipment to be poachers. They were probably travelling into Shin Makoku territory when they had been ambushed by the giant beast.

In the middle of the fray struggled a furious scarlet dragon, whose mouth was forced shut by some sort of tie. This handicap did not seem to affect its fighting ability in any way – it still had the mercenaries on the defensive.

A massive red tail swung out of seemingly nowhere and knocked a group of armored bodies flat onto the ground, followed by anguished cries.

"Bring the esoteric javelins!" A gruff voice called from the bottom of the armor pile, as several of the soldiers got to their feet and bolted into the woods. The scarlet dragon roared and tried to follow, only to be attacked from the back by another group of soldiers.

That got Conrad's attention. Humans and half-bloods weren't affected by esoteric stones, but dragons were known for using great levels of fire maryoku. Such a weapon would cripple them, and possibly even kill.

He drew his sword, the patrol around him mirroring his actions. He signaled them to follow, then skirted around the clearing towards where the mercenaries had disappeared. Those sad bastards with the dragon were on their own, but his group would intercept any soldiers who tried to bring esoteric weapons into the fight.

As if on cue, a battle cry sounded from the trees directly in front of them. Several armored mercenaries were emerging from the brush with heavy spears whose points were fixed with anti-maryoku stones.

"Attack!" Conrad released a roar of his own and charged, catching a mercenary between the shoulder blades with the hilt of his sword.

The half-blood squadron around him roared in response and swept the mercenaries with force.

The sounds of the now two-front battle filled the air. The pained grunts and roars of the clearing fight were close, and he knew the dragon was slowly picking off soldiers who had dared to attack it.

The Lion of Luttenburg did not stay his blows, either. Whether or not his enemies were poachers, the sentence for attacking this endangered species was death. He put his long pent-up anger in every blow, striking down and parrying the attacks from his opponents.

His battle trained eyes found weak points among armor all too easily, and he found his sword buried hilt-deep in flesh on more than one occasion. Screams around him told him his comrades were locked in battle as well. The ground became littered with broken esoteric spears.

Conrad could hear the air move as a heavy weapon swung down at him. He dodged a mace intended for the back of his head with inches to spare, and rebutted by twisting his sword in his grip and stabbing behind him.

He heard a grunt as the sword pierced soft armor, but his enemy did not fall, to his surprise.

He dislodged his sword and spun around, just to see a flail weight flying at his chest. He barely parried in time, deflecting spiked ball before it could make contact.

It must have been a double weight flail, however, because suddenly there was a sharp crack at his shoulder as the second spiked ball hit him. He grunted as his shell-shocked arm dropped his sword, and he fell to one knee to brace himself.

Conrad could hear surprised and pained noises from his soldiers around him – they had not anticipated weapons from the West, which were very anti-sword.

The mercenary had a helmet on and Conrad could not read his face, but he knew his opponent would be smirking as the armored mercenary advanced upon him once again.

"You think we did not expect you?" The armored man before him spoke proudly. Conrad recognized his accent's origin immediately, making him growl in anger. Big Cimarron. "That we did not know that Shin Makoku would send their best swordsman to protect the little secret that you hide within these woods?"

Conrad narrowed his eyes, careful to not let his face betray his confusion.

"We knew you would come. But Shin Makoku will not have its new Ma—"

Conrad dove for his sword, gripping it with his uninjured, dominant arm. He swung upwards and cleanly rid his attacker of one of his arms, cutting off what the man was about to tell him.

"ARGH!" The man yelled in pain, just as the dragon released another roar.

A much closer, louder roar.

"Shit!" Conrad cursed and dove out of the way as a giant red tail pounded the ground where he been standing a moment before. His enemy was messily flattened; Conrad winced at the sound of a hundred shattering bones.

Heat burst over his back as a giant red–now unhindered-head descended through the trees and sprayed all still standing with white fire. Conrad shielded his head as best he could with one arm. The other arm was clearly broken and out of commission.

Screams of agony erupted around him, his heart sank when he recognized many belonged to his squadron, as the forest was set ablaze and crackled with the same intensity of the dragon's fiery breath. The ground shook as an enormous clawed foot was brought down.

More crunching of bones followed. Conrad was thrown sideways with a simple, easy brush of the dragon's tail and he felt the impact of his back against a tree.

Grunting, he was suddenly on the ground. He was disoriented, and everything was chaos all around him.

How had everything gone so wrong, so quickly? Was he going to finally die?

He could barely move, he knew there was no way to hold his ground against a dragon by himself, Best Swordsman in the Kingdom or no. Broken trees seemed to partially hide his form as he could do nothing but watch what was left of his squadron flee into the trees or be squashed.

Another roar filled the air, but it this time it didn't belong to a dragon.

Conrad's head jerked to attention when he heard the dragon growl menacingly. It was glaring right at him.

Or rather, in his direction, for standing between him and it was a shorter figure clad in animal furs.

Conrad's eyes widened in wonder as he watched the figure hiss as the dragon lowly, and lower itself into a fighting stance. The new fighter had no weapons whatsoever. Panic seemed to race through him – what was that kid thinking?!

"Are you stupid? Run!" Conrad barked.

The figure twisted its head slightly in his direction, he could see the shadowed face of a younger boy with long and dark hair, who sent a small grin his way before facing the dragon once again.

"_Just stay there_." The boy instructed the wounded soldier quietly.

Conrad's mouth went slack. He noticed right away that it was not the native language to Shin Makoku, and yet he had understood it perfectly. He was reminded faintly of a time he had spent in a different world, among the people of a strange culture and even stranger language.

Had that young man just spoken _Japanese_?

Too add to his surprise, the young man began to glow a faint blue, causing his dark hair to rise in a way that made Conrad think of a wolf raising its hackles. He recognized the aura immediately for maryoku, though he couldn't fathom what a maryoku-user was doing way out here.

The dragon flinched back slightly when it saw the boy invoke his power. It tensed and gave a warning roar, not taking its eyes off of the boy.

"_Back off!" _The boy yelled back, the authority of his voice multiplied tenfold to sound like he had roared himself.

The wild-looking boy took a step forward, and to Conrad's great astonishment, the dragon actually took a step back. This continued until the dragon was clearly uncomfortable. It spread its wings and shot into the air, fleeing from the fur clad boy and injured half-blood.

* * *

Yuuri turned to look at the injured warrior, a victorious smile on his face.

He had watched the carnage unfold from afar. People like these soldiers had started to come to the valley more and more often, and Yuuri once again found himself chasing them away if the dragons and other forest creatures didn't take care of them first. Even the trees themselves would come alive some nights and drag those who would harm the forest deep underground.

However, he realized that some of the scents of the soldiers were familiar. They were the ones that never harmed a soul, only patrolled the forest, much like Yuuri did. The trees left them alone, as if the forest could feel their innocent intent. At first he had felt threatened that they were trying to take his territory. So he would watch them.

The one before him now was the one he had watched the most closely.

Up close he could see the copper hair and silver eyes (slowly fading back to brown) that had reminded him so much of a dragon who had helped him so many years ago. He sensed the same strong will to fight inside the man. Though when he concentrated, he saw something was different as well – this warrior had no golden veins inside him that were the tell-tale signs of magic. All of the humans he had met thus-far were like this.

He walked slowly to the warrior, who still grasped his sword nervously. Yuuri could feel his uncertainty, so he was careful. He inched a few feet closer and then sat on the ground with crossed legs and hands tucked under his chin, facing the wounded man.

They sat in silence, staring at each other for a long number of minutes. The soldier looked him up and down in wonder, his gaze lingering on the dark, shoulder-length locks of hair that peeked out from underneath Yuuri's wolf-head hood.

"…_You speak Japanese?"_

The question caught Yuuri off guard, not expecting the soldier to utter his language. He found himself unconsciously leaning away from the man with a wrinkled nose.

The silence stretched out longer, before Yuuri thought to respond.

"_You speak it?"_

"_I have been to Japan._" The soldier replied, giving a slight nod, but not taking his eyes off the wild young man.

Yuuri narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the soldier, and brought his hands up to his hood. Startled at the sudden movement, the soldier followed Yuuri's hands with the tip of his sword.

Yuuri paused for a moment, fixing the warrior with an even stare, before lowering his hood.

His black mane-like hair tumbled around his shoulders, several leaves sticking out of the strands. He knew the soldier could see his eyes now too – he trained them on the man's clearly broken arm.

A quiet gasp escaped the man's lips, along with a few foreign words he didn't understand. But Yuuri ignored it, and instead crawled forward until he was right in front of the soldier.

The man's sword twitched, but Yuuri knocked it away from them, not caring for the man's useless weapon anymore.

"_I'm Yuuri."_ Yuuri gave a smile, definitely intrigued by the brown-haired warrior.

"_Conrad Weller_." Conrad replied, equally mesmerized by the youth. His eyes wouldn't leave Yuuri's, making Yuuri blush a little against his will.

The double-black gave a self-conscious smile, before returning his attention back to the arm.

"_You're hurt, Conrad-san."_

_"Just Conrad is fine. You saved my life, after all."_

_"You're hurt, __**Conrad**__._"

This was the most Yuuri had spoken in a long time. The swordsman fascinated him like nothing else had done before, and he was certainly handsome. He had never felt this motivated to speak, to make an impression.

Yuuri surveyed the twisted arm, and prodded it none too gently.

Conrad hissed sharply and jerked his arm away towards his chest, then groaned and swooned to the side. Frowning, Yuuri drew his hands upwards and began to inspect the man's face and head for injuries. Seeing nothing drastically wrong besides a minor bump, his hands trailed downward to the soldier's chest.

"_Leave it…_" Conrad gasped out in pain, but Yuuri ignored him and ripped the shirt open anyways.

Yuuri was accustomed to scars, which Conrad certainly had plenty of. The swordsman's chest was decorated with them, telling Yuuri the man had had a life of hardship. Dark bruises were beginning to blossom where the soldier had fallen, and he could bet that they would be forming on his back too.

Yuuri felt the familiar energy building up in his hands (tiny golden lights in his fingers sparked to life), and he ran his fingers down the man's toned chest, watching his healing magic dissipate into the foreign flesh and begin to reconstruct and heal.

Conrad's labored breaths became easier, much to Yuuri's happiness. He returned his hands to either side of Conrad's face, and connected their foreheads.

Conrad watched him in confusion, a look of bashfulness fleeting across his features for a moment.

Yuuri reached inside himself and pulled out more of his magic, letting it flow into the soldier beneath him. He searched with his aura, stitching together anything he found amiss in the swordsman's head.

Something prodded back at his mind; something dark and despairing. It was like an infection, this sadness rooted deep within Conrad's psyche. Yuuri steeled himself and pressed in, determined to clear out any darkness in his path.

It burned a bit, Yuuri hissed. He did his best to keep his sharp nails from digging into Conrad's temples despite the images that began to swim into his mind.

Anger, so much anger. Blizzards and storms, but then a break in the pain – a single anchor rooted deeply there. A woman, with unseeing eyes, kindness. She seemed to look right through him, smile sadly, and then evaporate into mist. A tidal wave of loss crashed over him, he felt himself swept away in it. Shadowy figures flitted before his vision, figures that Conrad knew well, but a bitter taste of betrayal was tart in his mouth when he saw them. Yuuri tried to force himself deeper, to see the true form of this sadness.

He clenched his teeth and finally broke through. He knew he had found the man's soul, and that it would be deadly to touch it, taint it.

Carefully he wove his magic together like a blanket and wrapped it around Conrad's essence as much as he could. He poured as much as he could into it – his happiness, rare memories of his family, his joy of life. Conrad's breathing became irregular once again, but he didn't resist against Yuuri's touch. He could feel the darkness being burned away – impossibly slowly, but it was diminishing all the same. He had planted a small seed there, and it would help him heal as it grew.

Spots began to light behind Yuuri's eyes, like circuits breaking and blowing. He broke the connection suddenly and fell backwards against the soldier's lap.

He found that Conrad's silver eyes and his own black ones were wet with tears. Conrad panted harshly and leaned against the tree, both of them exhausted from what had just occurred.

"…_Yuuri_…"

The soldier looked as if he was about to say something when his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, his body finally giving out under the strain.

Yuuri knew was close to passing out himself, but he would not leave them in such a vulnerable position. He went to the back of the soldier and carefully picked him up from the armpits, doing his best to drag the man that Yuuri was quickly finding out was mostly muscle.

Yuuri was not small, by far. About three years ago he had gone through quite a growth spurt. His shoulders had filled out, his arms and legs and torso had lengthened. He found that building muscle came easier to him, which was useful in this dangerous terrain. His hair was almost like a mane – he hadn't cut it for quite some time now, and as a result it cascaded down slightly below his shoulders and was pretty hard to manage. He was not a boy any longer.

But this was a _warrior_ he was carrying, he knew. Conrad was heavy and bulky, callouses on his hands.

Huffing, Yuuri dragged the unconscious man deeper into the woods where Yuuri knew was a safe haven. It was Yuuri's lair, one of them anyways. Underneath a thick, fallen tree was a hollowed out hole big enough for several people. It was only accessible through a small gap between the snapped roots, presenting a huge problem to Yuuri when he could barely fit the soldier through.

But he did, and that was where he finally collapsed, at the side of the man that he had saved.

* * *

Conrad didn't know how long he slept, but he could tell when he awoke that it had been a long time. He didn't move, but surveyed his surroundings with eyes barely open.

Through his eyelashes, he could tell he was in a hole of some kind, seemingly by himself. It was dark and damp, the only source of light coming from a small slit of an opening

Assessing that there was no immediate danger, he stopped feigning sleep and rolled into a sitting position. His arm was in some kind of brace, and his sluggish mind struggled for a moment to remember why. Oh right, Yuuri.

It had been quite a shock for Conrad to discover the youth that saved him was a double-black.

The wild teen was a thing of myth – it had been prophesized that a double black possessing great power would arrive in Shin Makoku and cause great change. Conrad was a man of sense and usually didn't believe in prophecies. Normally he would have just seen Yuuri as nothing but a beautiful, albeit strange, oddity that lived in the woods.

But Yuuri had scared away a dragon with no effort. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

And then there was what Yuuri had done to him afterwards…Conrad pinched the bridge of his nose as he remembered. It had been painful; all of his darkest memories forcefully dragged to the surface of his mind and flipped through like Yuuri had casually been reading a book. He still wasn't very happy that Yuuri had done that, but…

He felt different. Like there was some kind of soft cushion separating him from all of his insecurities and doubts. He felt...lighter. Not exactly happier, but kind of like his burdens weighed a little bit less.

He did his best to crawl for the entrance on only one arm (The space was wide, but definitely not tall), with his injured limb held tight to his chest.

It was difficult squirming his way out, but he managed. He had been under a giant tree the whole time? He marveled at its size as he plopped in the grass, observing the dense forest around him.

Yuuri was still nowhere to be seen.

A part of Conrad desperately hoped that the teen hadn't left him to fend for himself in these woods. It was the other part of him that was painfully aware of the absence of his sword. As much of a woodsman as Conrad was, these woods were dangerous. Besides the obvious danger of dragons, there were several wild creatures of make and size that could easily extinguish Conrad's puny life if they had the whim. Without a weapon of any kind, he felt more and more like a sitting duck with each passing second.

And as if the fates had designed it, the foliage to his immediate front left began to rustle violently as a soft whine and panting could be heard.

Conrad stood, wondering if he should flee – that didn't sound like Yuuri at all.

A massive wolf ripped through the leaves suddenly and bolted right at Conrad. He shouted and braced himself as a last defense. The wolf wasn't attacking, however. Its tail was tucked firmly between its legs and it ran directly around the soldier, as if he were an obstacle.

Another wolf leaped out of the foliage right behind it and tackled it to the ground. They struggled for several moments, snarling and clawing at each other. Conrad watched in amazement and alarm, only just realizing that the second wolf hadn't been a wolf at all, but Yuuri, in his fur hood.

Yuuri released a vicious snarl and bit down on the canine's throat. It gave a high pitched yelp before Yuuri released it and it scrambled to its feet, darting into the woods.

Yuuri huffed and got to his feet, mindlessly brushing some dirt off his knees (though the teen was covered in it, so it didn't do much good).

"_That'll teach him to come so close again._" The double black growled, before turning back to Conrad with a beaming smile. Blood from his fled enemy was smeared across his chin. "_Good morning, Conrad!"_

Conrad was so thrown off by the complete one-eighty personality change that he completely forgot himself.

"What in Shinou's name...?"

"_Eh?"_

_"Oh, sorry Yuuri_." Conrad corrected himself, remembering that the double black could only speak one language. "_Good morning._"

Yuuri smiled and started to straighten his clothes again. He wore a light (hand-made?) tunic and no shoes, but his shoulders were completely covered with thick furs. The black wolf-head hood atop his head was definitely the oddest of accessories the double black donned, but Conrad felt it fit him in a way.

_"Awfully energetic this morning, aren't we?_"

"_I was checking on your comrades_." Yuuri replied, a sullen and-guilty?-look suddenly befalling him. _"I'm sorry, but they're all dead." _

Conrad's heart sank, and he looked at his lap so that the wild observer would not see him suddenly overcome with emotion. His friends…the ones who had been by his side all this time, sharing his scorn for the nobility and iron resolve to prove themselves. They had not gotten the chance to see equality, to see justice. He felt his eyes become glassy and moist.

Strong arms were suddenly wrapping around his shoulders. Yuuri's warm breath was on his ear, but he said nothing.

The double-black held the soldier like that for several long minutes, letting the man regain his composure. Conrad was thankful for the comfort. He leaned in to the touch unconsciously, not having been held like this for several years.

It was only when Conrad's stomach grumbled from sheer hunger that Yuuri released him. The double black gave him an awkward smile, before grabbing his hand and beckoning the soldier to follow him.

Conrad rose to his feet, all thoughts gone except for the one that told him to follow Yuuri.

Something had changed within him, he could feel it. Whenever he touched Yuuri, something warm and soft would stir inside him. He hadn't noticed it at first, but now he sensed it there. Something unfurling.

Something that grew with every beautiful look and smile the double black threw his way.

* * *

**Oh yeah guys, so, by the way. I totally ship Conyuu. If you couldn't tell. I don't know how far I want to take their romance with this fic, but they are most definitely probably ending up together. yeah. **

**Thanks for reading, please leave a review if you were satisfied with this chapter! Thanks for reading and see you for our next installment! ;O**


	3. The Wolf and the Lion

**I would like to firstly apologize for the shortness of this chapter. College is quite overwhelming at times. **

**Also, I would like to make a quick note. I said at the end of the last chapter that this would be a ConYuu story, but that wasn't entirely accurate. I like them as a couple, but for the most part this story will focus on Yuuri and his adventures, not on romance (though you can bet there will be some in here). Conrad is quite fun to write, however, so I expect I'll be writing from his perspective quite a bit. And I imagine him as very smitten with Yuuri most times, so you may get that impression from him (hahaha). **

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter! We get to see some more characters now. **

* * *

**Dragon Wood, Heart of the Drache Valley, Shin Makoku**

The entity that was "Yuuri" was a complete mystery to Conrad Weller.

The young double-black at times seemed perfectly rational (normal, even) despite his wild attire and dress. It was at these times that Conrad would chat with him and learn about the forest, for Yuuri knew quite a lot about the Dragon Wood and the creatures within it. He had a deep desire to protect the life within the forest and felt deeply saddened when he was driven to hunt out of necessity and hunger, a quality Conrad found very much admirable.

At other times, Yuuri would become one of the very creatures he described so lovingly.

It was when Yuuri was like this that Conrad found himself standing back and warily watching as the wild teen took down animals twice his size bare-handedly (not without the aid of his maryoku, of course) and then carried the carcasses slung over both shoulders like he was an ox bearing a yoke.

He had the reflexes of an animal too. The way the double-black carried himself was not unlike the way his many soldiers would stance themselves in unfamiliar territory. He was light on his feet and twitched at the slightest of rustles or snaps. Conrad was almost impressed by Yuuri's level of alertness.

Also, Yuuri had no sense for etiquette or social behavior.

The young double-black didn't know of and didn't care for personal space. On more than one occasion, Conrad would wake up in the morning with the teen curled up against his side like an enormous cat. When the soldier would receive a nasty cut from collecting food or digging around the woods (Yuuri protected him from the dangers of the forest for the most part, but it seemed some of the vegetation liked to misbehave), Yuuri would actually bring Conrad's injured hand to his mouth and _lick it clean._

Yes, the double-black was a complete enigma.

The solder yawned and stretched out his body in the grass. He was currently resting near Yuuri's Lair (he had started calling the underground burrow this in jest, but later discovered that the description was all too fitting), the cool hollow under a fallen tree, after a late morning swim.

If he ignored the lethal dangers constantly lurking around him and plotting to maul him, kill him, and mutilate his body… Conrad thought that the forest was quite charming. The speckled sunlight that filtered down was warm to the touch, the gentle breeze that whistled quietly through the trees and through the light brown locks of his hair was more than relaxing. Either way he was able to enjoy the forest a lot more now that his weapon had been returned to his side.

Conrad counted three weeks that he had been in Yuuri's care.

The wounds from his battle were slowly fading. His cracked ribs were only bruised now. Yuuri had been extra attentive to his arm, making sure that it was splinted, magicked, and exercised daily. His head still troubled him, but that was probably due to the fact that Yuuri had paid a little extra…_attention_ to it.

After the feral teen had taken him to the site of the battle that had wiped out his entire squadron – he needed to see the destruction with his own eyes and fetch his sword – he had finally resigned himself to his failure.

_He had failed at his duty._ The thought struck him like a sack of bricks, but it was liberating at the same time. The kingdom had always failed him, so why shouldn't he return the favor? For all those outside of the squadron knew, everyone who entered the forest was now dead. And it wasn't as if he had completely failed – all of the poachers had been slain as well.

Maybe, just maybe, he could be like Yuuri and live out his life among the woods here. Thankfully the wild teen didn't seem to mind his company. Was there any need for him to return to the kingdom?

He thought again about the prophecy that foretold of Yuuri. At least, he was fairly certain that it pertained to Yuuri. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see this double-black on the throne of Shin Makoku. He had the power and looks of nobility, but…

"_Conrad!_"

Conrad bolted up at the sound of his name being called, turning around to see a dark-haired, half-naked Yuuri emerging from the forest.

"_I didn't know you left the waterfall already,_" Yuuri called softly and smiled sheepishly, "_Sorry you had to walk back by yourself._"

The swordsman gave a small smile, remembering how Yuuri had been modest and embarrassed about bathing together, and insisted that the soldier remain out of his line of sight in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

"_I'm a capable swordsman._" Conrad gave a shrug. "_I can manage a brief walk on my own._"

Yuuri smiled meekly in response, but his eyes were still concerned. Then it hit Conrad – Yuuri hadn't even gotten fully dressed before chasing him down. Almost like he had started looking for him as soon as he realized he had gone.

Had Yuuri been…_worried_ about him?

"_Sorry_." Conrad murmured, suddenly feeling like a fool.

Yuuri relaxed, shoulders that Conrad hadn't realized were tensed before suddenly looked a lot smaller.

"_I should be sorry._" Yuuri replied, straightening. "_I let my shyness get in the way…you could have gotten hurt._"

Conrad dismissed the double-black's apology with a wave of his hand.

"_If anything, I should be the one protecting you._"

Yuuri scoffed and rolled his eyes. He took a seat not far from the soldier and began to dress himself fully.

"_I'm serious._" Conrad said more firmly. "_I…I owe you a great debt._"

"_You owe me nothing._"

"_I owe you _my life_!"_

Conrad hadn't meant to roar it – Yuuri jumped to his feet like a startled cat, clearly ready to flee. In that split second, Conrad's trained eyes could detect a trace of surprise on the double-black's face. Surprise and fear.

And that…

That made Conrad feel _awful_.

It was as if some of his anger from so many years of abuse had slipped out before he could stop it. It was always bubbling near the edge, threatening to spill over. Yuuri had done nothing to deserve it, he knew.

But he badly just wanted somebody to listen to him. He wanted to give something to somebody and not be turned away.

He hated himself a little when he realized he was thinking of Julia.

Yuuri, however, seemed determined to conquer his instincts. He visibly straightened himself out and walked over to Conrad. There was a slight swish of clothing as the double-black sat at Conrad's side and drew his legs up to his chest.

The soldier could hear Yuuri's heart beating wildly. He listened to it as the silence stretched out between them for several moments.

It was a comfortable silence.

A cool hand met his, and he found his palm drawn towards Yuuri. The teen seemed to be tracing the lines of his palm, studying the callouses of his fingers with fascination. He flipped it over and analyzed the silvery scars that had accumulated from the many years of sword fighting and wars.

Once he seemed satisfied with the hand, he ran his fingers up Conrad's arm, tracing the scars there. His pace was lazy, and lacked any real purpose.

Conrad could feel himself unwinding under the double-black's soft touches, something he was quickly discovering was a special skill of Yuuri's that no one else had been able to do his entire life. He sighed and left his back fall to the grass once more, keeping his arm suspended so that the double-black could continue his ministrations.

After a while, Yuuri seemed to get bored of exploring the soldier's old wounds. Conrad found he now had a companion at his side, stretched out in the grass.

Together they watched the sky.

There was a certain freedom to this. Here in the Dragon Wood, he was not the Maoh's half-breed son. He was not the disgraced Lion of Luttenburg, or the disowned brother of two perfect noble half-breeds. He was not the best swordsman in all of Shin Makoku. No, those burdens were no longer his.

Here he was just Conrad Weller.

* * *

**Entrance of the Dragon Wood, Near the Drache Valley, Shin Makoku**

Gunter von Christ was on a mission.

Given the command of two dozen soldiers and the kingdom's most efficient spy and tracker, he and his party had travelled for several days to reach the woods that towered before them now.

Conrad Weller, second son to the realm's twenty-sixth Maou, had been missing for two months.

At least, they could only hope that it was only two months. Conrad's squadron usually checked in for supplies and food once a month, and then would submerge themselves once again into the nearly impenetrable Dragon Woods. The royal advisor shuddered at the thought of anybody being lost – or worse – in such a place.

Gunter considered himself a friend of Conrad Weller. Or rather, friend was not the right word. He was a mentor to the half-mazoku, someone who had not turned him away because of his status. He was a role model to the young man when his father had died young, and taught him about his sword even though the prince soon left him behind in skill.

No, the term "friend" was best suited for the red-headed man at his side.

Gurrier Yozak.

The spymaster was expertly analyzing the forest before them, his focused state temporarily masking the agitated mood he had been in throughout the journey here. Yozak had been friend and comrade to Conrad throughout the last war, having even saved his life on more than one occasion. They both had been outraged at the treatment of half-bloods, though it seemed Conrad's desire for isolation led to even the red head being left behind.

Of course, Yozak had been first to volunteer to look for the missing prince when news of his friend's disappearance reached the castle. Gunter was a near second, seeing as how Gwendal was watching the castle in his mother's stead, and the youngest Prince Wolfram couldn't be roused to assist his "filthy human brother".

So here Gunter stood, ready to enter the treacherous forest in order to seek out Conrad's squad of half-bloods.

It was as if the horses beneath them could sense their intentions. Gunter's own horse, though trained to be steady in battle and chaos alike, twitched and chomped nervously at the bit. The soldiers lined behind him were less fortunate with their steeds; several horses tried to shy away, others shuffled their hooves.

Yozak cleared his throat, drawing Gunter's attention back to him.

"I see no signs of recent activity, Lord von Christ. No one has entered or left these woods in a long time."

The spy's tone was clipped, his face passive when addressing Gunter.

The royal aid suspected he wouldn't get anything more from the half-mazoku. For no matter what Gunter's relationship was with Weller, he himself was still a full-blooded mazoku nobleman.

"Thank you, Yozak." Gunter replied, scanning the dense trees with his own eyes.

"Sir." Was the only response.

"I'm entrusting our lives to you, Spymaster. These soldiers and I know wilderness, but somehow I think this will be a whole new experience."

Yozak's mouth twitched upwards at that.

"Let's hope your men have no problem following my instructions, Lord von Christ," _because I'm a half-blood,_ the unspoken words were there, "because they'll be dead as a doornail otherwise."

Gunter nodded grimly, casting his eyes over his shoulder at the soldiers behind him.

"Prepare yourselves, warriors of Shin Makoku!"

Gunter spun his horse around so that he was now facing the troops behind him. Many of them straightened at attention.

"It is the prince we pursue!" Gunter continued, projecting his voice. "We will return him home safely, even if it costs us our lives! That is our duty to the realm. Keep steady in your purpose, and we will see this mission through!"

He faced forwards again, handing authority back to Yozak.

Yozak gave a half-shrug, nudging his mount forward. The soldiers followed suit, and soon they were all knee-deep in uncivilized, wild forest.

Though, it seemed to Gunter, that the spymaster was enjoying himself.

For right as they entered the dense thicket and the darkness came upon him, the red-head, though unseen by any behind him, had had a wide, sneering grin upon his face.

* * *

**Yozak is unexpectedly fun to write? He's just such an interesting character to me.**

**I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter out, so hang tight. Tests and projects are all due next week, bleeeh. But thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)**


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